Conventional bed sheets, blankets, quilts, comforters and bedspreads are created as a flat cloth that is draped over the mattress and tucked in if desired. These bed coverings are manufactured in a multitude of sizes to accommodate the various mattress sizes, such as twin, full, queen, king, “California King”, mattress depths, including standard and “pillow top”, and various mattress types, such as those used in beds at home, or those used in hotels, hospitals, barracks, and other commercial or governmental settings requiring beds. Custom bed coverings size can also exist, such as, for example those customized to fit specialized mattresses such as mattresses utilized in trucks, campers, recreational vehicles, sofa beds, children's beds, cribs, bassinets, irregularly-shaped mattresses or the like. Although many mattress sizes are standardized, the precise dimensions of a standardized mattress may vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer.
The changing of bed coverings is often regarded as a “chore” by those desiring to, e.g., change the bed sheets or blankets on their beds at home, or by those employed to change bed linens, such as, in hotels and hospitals. As such, improvements are sought to make life easier when it comes to changing a bed. At home this can translate to more time for other activities, and in a commercial setting, can translate to the saving of time and money spent in servicing the bed linens.
It has also been stated previously that after making a bed in the usual manner certain difficulties are encountered. The most annoying difficulty is that often the bottom portion of the bed sheet or blanket will be kicked loose from the mattress by a restless sleeper at a time that is not conducive to remaking the bed, thereby causing chill and discomfort to the sleeper(s).
A great deal of time is expended by an individual who must remake the entire bed due to the loosening of the top sheet only. As the bed sheet or blanket is kicked free, so too are the bed coverlets above or below it loosened. Depending upon the number of coverlets above or below the sheet or blanket, it will take a minimum of ten minutes per day to remake an entire queen-sized bed. That means one (1) hour and ten (10) minutes per week, or sixty-one (61) hours per year to make just one bed. For a family of four members, daily bed making could take as much time as two hundred forty four (244) hours per year. In settings other than the home, such as a hotel, the collective time to make such beds, or change such beds can be significant.
The most common bed sheet or blanket configuration in use on beds today is the use of a fitted sheet to cover the mattress, with a flat sheet used as an upper sheet with a coverlet. Fitted sheets usually have an elastic strip at each corner or a single continuous strip surrounding the open edge of the sheet.
Typically, a bed sheet or blanket is placed over a top or flat sheet and the fitted bottom sheet. The bed sheet or blanket may be tucked beneath the foot end of the mattress when the bed is made. However, the bed sheet or blanket as well as the top sheet and the fitted sheets frequently become loose from under the mattress during use and are inconvenient to tuck in and refold when the bed is again made. Known to the art are bed clothes, made for use with waterbeds, which include a top sheet having a portion of the lower edge attached to the lower end of the fitted sheet. This method of attaching the top sheet to the fitted sheet illuminates many of the problems associated with loose top sheets. However, it fails to address the inconvenience of refolding the top sheet at the lower corner to provide a finished appearance should the waterbed be utilized with a conventional mattress. Furthermore, it fails to address the inconvenience of tucking the top bed sheet or blanket loosened during sleep.
Fitted bottom sheets are known including an overhang which overhangs the sides of a mattress and is drawn inwardly under the mattress by elastic strips so that the bottom sheet is tightly spread over the top of the mattress and held securely in place. When a separate flat top sheet is used with the fitted bottom sheet, it must be carefully adjusted and tucked in with hospital corners, and even then the bed sheet or blanket comes untucked readily. This makes making up the bed an unnecessarily complicated procedure for everyone, and a potentially difficult procedure for those with vision problems or other physical difficulties.
Fitted top sheets are also known having the same type of fitting at the bottom as the fitted bottom sheets, particularly with satin sheets, but this construction leaves little room at the bottom for the sleeper's feet.
It is even known to have a combination of a fitted bottom sheet with an attached top sheet. However, the known constructions for such combinations either provide too little space for the sleeper's feet and/or require complicated constructions that are relatively expensive and difficult to handle when making up the bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,349 discloses a bed sheet combination including a bottom sheet having a foot end, a top sheet having a foot end, and a connector band of stretchable fabric secured between the bottom sheet and the top sheet to attach the foot end of the top sheet to the foot end of the bottom sheet. The connector band has a first edge attached to the foot end of the bottom sheet and has a second edge attached to the foot end of the top sheet. The connector band enables the foot end of the top sheet to be pulled away from the foot end of the bottom sheet while being urged to return in the direction of the foot end of the bottom sheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,380,297 discloses a bed coverings for a mattress and, more particularly, a fitted (or semi-fitted) top sheet that may be attached at one end to the mattress and which may be placed between a user and other bedding such as blankets, quilts, comforters, or the like. The fitted sheet provides for ease in changing or making the bed. The fitted bed sheet of the present invention includes a zone of expansion to provide extra room for a sleeper's feet, and provides overhanging side flaps to provide and end-to-end finished look. Additionally, the present invention is directed to a fitted blanket, fitted quilt, fitted comforter and fitted bedspread for a mattress. The invention is also directed to a pattern for making these fitted bed coverings from an existing flat sheet or a starting flat cloth.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,411,288 discloses a fitted blanket having a generally rectangular pocket member attached at its foot end to fit over the foot of the bed mattress. The pocket member is formed of a fabric, e.g., flannel, and has top, side, bottom and back panels, with the top panel having a length dimension of about twelve to twenty-four inches. The side panels have forward edges that extend diagonally from the bottom panel to the top panel Elastic extends around the pocket member is joined to the blanket portion at a seam sewn across the front edge of the top panel. The deep pocket member of this design accommodates in comfort the feet of a sleeper in the bed and also resists being pulled or kicked off the bed.